The act of bearing witness is an act of integration. The simple act of observing one’s feelings as they arise and giving them space. Allowing them to exist and witnessing them is incredibly healing.
What is the idea of bearing witness?
Instead of trying and failing to change thoughts, we just let those ‘thought-balls’ come and depart in a relaxed and non-judgmental way. This process can shift our experience and increases the feeling of involvement and empathy.
Many of the difficulties of modern life involve many different stresses and demands on our attention, our finances, our time. Is there no time for just being? How can we return to a feeling of harmony?
The mind uses various methods to defend itself. Overcoming trauma or worry about a devastating event means that we tend to numb our senses. Everything is a blur and the self builds up levels of indifference and ‘psychic numbing’. This is an important coping strategy at specific moments but disastrous over time.
Bearing witness moves us back to now, to our present position and re-involves us with our body and mind. It is not just a coping strategy but a corrective realignment. We say bye-bye to apathy, indifference and psychic numbing and we welcome a healing state of mindful compassion and caring. To bear witness is to be willing to see the truth with our eyes as well as with our hearts.
It enables us to close the gap of consciousness and empathise with one another and with ourselves. As we become more aligned, we are more mindful, more psychologically and emotionally connected to the truth of our experience.
Mindfulness is a powerful tool to nourish us deep down, find a more self-aware balance and help us to be more aligned in our values and our practices. Better still, it shows we all care.